1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical lighting and, more particularly, to the use of lighting elements in light strings and other decorative arrangements.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
For many people, the act of decorating their homes and offices is a nostalgic tradition associated with the Christmas holiday season while for others it is a chance to express themselves creatively on select occasions. Decorative lights, whether arranged individually or in strings, are a particularly common sight during the holiday season. Decorative lights shaped as individual candles, for example, are used to provide a room with the aesthetics and ambience of an actual candle flame, but without the associated risk of fire or need for close attention. Light strings, on the other hand, are commonly used to adorn the family Christmas tree. Given the power of aromas like evergreen, cinnamon, vanilla, and other scents to evoke feelings of nostalgia and warmth during the holiday season, it is not surprising that various systems and techniques have been proposed to utilize the heat emitted by lighting elements, including those associated with decorative displays or light strings, to promote the distribution of such aromas.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,706,939 entitled “Evaporator” and issued to Rosenthal on Mar. 26, 1929, it is proposed to place an incandescent bulb within the cavity of a decorative, transparent assembly. Housed within the assembly is a container arranged to receive a volatile liquid such as a perfume and retain the liquid close enough to the light bulb to promote evaporation and thereby release a desirable fragrance into the surrounding area. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,164 entitled “Vaporizer” and issued to Brewster on Apr. 5, 1946, an annular liner adapted to surround a portion of an incandescent bulb proximate its base performs the same liquid retaining function as the container taught by Rosenthal, but provides a degree of isolation of the liquid in order to provide greater control of the rate of vaporization. Neither of these references are concerned with the release of seasonal fragrances corresponding to a holiday, holiday season, or festive occasion and, more importantly, the use of volatile liquids is simply not practical in the context of light strings and displays because the lighting elements have neither the physical shape nor the heat output required.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,762 issued to Van Dyn Hoven on Aug. 30, 2005 and entitled “Light String Assembly”, along with UK Patent No. 1,444,204 issued to Miles on Jul. 28, 1976 and entitled “Clear Perfumed Polyamide Resin and Method of Making It” each disclose the concept of coating light emitting elements with a translucent, scent-bearing material such that a pleasing fragrance is released while the bulb(s) are illuminated. The principal disadvantages of this approach are that the complete encapsulation of the lighting elements results in a substantially shortened bulb life, and a release of fragrance that may be too rapid to last for an entire holiday season.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,851 issued to Wang on Sep. 1, 2009 and entitled “Scented Lighting Devices and Systems, and Methods for Making the Same” discloses a scented lamp holder structure which is dimensioned and arranged to establish electrical connectivity between the conductive leads of each lighting element and the light string wires. While the Wang lampholder structure does avoid the encapsulation issues associated with the Hoven and Miles arrangements, it is limited in its applicability to a specific light string configuration and, therefore, is not adaptable to the wide range of existing lighting strings and decorative light display configurations typically encountered in the commercial marketplace.
A continuing need therefore exists for decorative light assemblies and articles which retain the ability to release a scent for at least an entire holiday season.
A need also exists for decorative light assemblies and articles which incorporate a scent release structure which is not limited to any particular light string or decorative article configuration.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.